Eparti X
Eparti X (b. 1305 BC) was the 124th King of Elam and 78th Emperor of Chedorlaomer reigning 1275-1250 BC. He was the son and successor of Emperor Humban-umena I. In 1276 BC his father sent him to lead an assault on the city of Carchemish. After Eparti was repelled, Humban-umena launched a personal expedition into Carchemish, where he took command of the force previously commanded by Eparti and attempted to seize Carchemish himself. However, the siege lasted five months, until the Emperor was found dead in his tent in 1275. He was unable to consolidate his grip on power at first and the Empire's control of the region began to crumble. As a result in 1274 he lost most of his holdings in Carchemish and in 1273 open rebellions broke out against him in Tabal and Mitanni. He finally consolidated his hold on Elam by having several key opponents from the important noble families murdered and their corpses exhibited on the walls of the royal palace in 1273. He then sent a messenger to Niusha XIII, Epartid Ensi of Anshan, and his chief political rival, telling him that should he not submit to the superiority of Eparti. This message was recorded in the royal archive and blessed by a priest before being inserted into a temple deposit in the Haštu of Inšušinak: "The walls of Anshan I will tear down. I will divert the man made river of Anshan into it's streets, I will hang on every house the body of every man who dares oppose me. I shall take the heads of your soldiers, your commanders, I shall make of them a pillar, I shall take thy son and have his head placed on the top of that pillar. I will take thy wife and have her pierced with arrows for sport, I will take the children of your city and sell them into slavery abroad, I will sow your land with salt and burn your temples, you who have angered the Gods and turned from them. I shall make of your city an offering, a table land made for the Great Gods, for I am the beloved of Inšušinak, my lord, the God of my Life, who trusts me, who gives me divine powers, and of Humban, King of the Earth, who grants me his kitten. I shall have you watch your city burn." Ensi Niusha submitted, and so did the rest of the Ensis of Elam. In 1272 a large double temple of Inšušinak and Eparti X was built in Huhunuri by workers sent from all the cities who defied the Emperor. The Temple of Inšušinak at Huhunuri was larger then any other temple in Elam, except for the Temple of Inšušinak at Susa, which Eparti had expanded even further so it would remain "a temple of the great giants, the lords". During 1273 he set an invasion force to aid the King of Tabal to subdue the rebellion and in 1272 the rebels at Mitanni were defeated by the Mitanni King Arikirme II. The Emperor sent gifts to Arikirme to reward him for his loyalty and then summoned "all the kings, crowned Kings of the land of Empire, all the ones ruled by the Scepter of Chedorlaomer to the plains outside Susa". Sixty Two Sovereign kings (44 sole kings of sovereign countries and 18 kings of the union countries of Ida-Maras and Zalmaqqum) and the four greatly autonomous kings of the four autonomous kingdoms of Warsama, Hurma, Ušša and Ulama from Kanesh assembled at Susa. There, they were forced to swear loyalty to Eparti, in the presence of five hundred Horned Warriors and an additional two thousand soldiers of Elam. The Emperor then decreed a Divine Compact between the Emperor and His Nations, proclaiming his sovereign protection of those who prove loyal, and the "utter decimation and uprooting" of those who would be treacherous. This he ordered carved into a gigantic stone slab erected close to Susa, whereupon his figure was carved towering above the assembled kings, 66 in total, whose images were carved into the slab and whose names were inscribed in the inscription which read: "I Eparti son of Humban-umena, King of Susa and Anšan, Awan, Shimashki, Uru'aza, Hidali, Amarak, King of the Land of Haltamt, Great King, Valiant King, Conquering King, his son Eparti King of Susa and Anšan, Awan, Shimashki, Uru'aza, Hidali, Amarak, King of the Land of Haltamt, Emperor, Heir of Chedorlaomer and Eparti, Keeper of the Sacred Haštu of Inšušinak, Decimater of all lands, King of the Great Empire stretching from shore to shore, The Chosen Son of the Gods who love me, Steward of Inšušinak in His Holy City, Keeper of the Groves and Gardens and Temples of Humban, Keeper of the Temple of Kirirša the Great Wife, the Beloved Mortal Son of Kiririša, Great Keeper of the Holy Places of Pinikir who Commands the Heavens. I great Son of the Gods, Living God enshrined, I have ended the rebellions of those who would dare oppose me. I had smashed them, rendered them powerless, torn them assunder. I have taken their cities and broken their walls, I have smashed their gates and I have uprooted their Temples and brough the images of their Gods to the Temples where my will had not been opposed, I liberated the Sacred Images of the Gods from the hands of the unworthy. The Mitanni are submitted to me like a dog, they bow their heads and their King, my loyal servant, has taken my enemies and crushed their legs and smashed their cities and delivered them unto me. I say that Arikirme, my brother through marriage of long ago, his name is to remembered forever for his loyalty to me and to the Gods my Lords. After the evil of those who stood against me was no more I summoned the annointed Kings of My Land, the annointed rulers of the Empire, my Vassals, the Greater Kings and the smaller Kings and I had them pay homage to me in vicinity of the Kingdom of Susa, the realm of my Ancestors. These were sixty six, Hittites, Hurians, Amorites, Medes, Kings of Sumer and Kings of Akkad, and they acknowledged my Lordship and the Greatness of my Gods and bowed their heads to me, Suppiluliuma whose God is Tarhunt bowed his head to me, Ashur-Shaduni, who'se God is Aššur bowed his head to me, Gandash whose god is Marduk bowed his head to me, Ammurapi who'se god is El bowed his head to me. They and the other Kings whom I summoned, they bowed their head to me. In memory of this I have ordered this slab to be erected and carved with my image and with the symbol of the Divine Serpents, the Holy Symbol of my Gods, and the images of those Kings my vassals who came and subjected themselves to me. I have ordered it to be erected in sight of the Holy City, and all the Kings my successors to uphold it, and all the kings the successors of my vassals to uphold it's meaning, to come and pay respect unto the image, for a libation to be given in front of this image in the name of Inšušinak, my God, and of Humban, and of Kiririša and Napiriša and all the other Great Gods, at the time of the coming of the Harvest. Let no man deface the symbols of this carving, let no man living now or ever come into the presence of my graven image and of the graven image of those my faithfull vassals, into the presence of my beaming countenance which is a pleasure to the Gods my lords, to deface a single crowned and annointed King who is under my protection, who'se image is sacred forever. Let no man come to the presence of my image and dare to deface my image, or his kitten shall be takne away, the gods shall take away his kitten and the beasts of the wilderness shall consume him ! Unless, of the Kings engraved upon this image, should any of them betray the sacred vows they have made in front of me and in front of the great graven image of Inšušinak which I had erected for them to swear to, then I order that the Priest of the Haštu of Inšušinak to come to this image and pronounce great curses upon the oathbreaker and shatter the image of his face, and declare him kitten-less, declare him pray of the wild beasts. Make of him the enemy of Haltamt, and chase him and kill him in the name of Inšušinak, my god !" In 1272 he then reorganised his armies and, after receiving men from the Kingdoms of Aššur, Eshnuna, Ugarit, Mari, Babylon, Arraphe, Quwe, Karana and Andarig he marched into Carchemish. He took Alime and Alalah in the first year and in 1271 took Intarawe and placed his fifteen year old son and future Emperor Khutelutush-Inshushinak I as Ippir of Intarawe. He marched futher into Carchemish, defeating the Carchemish King Katuwas IV at Silhan in 1270. He then fought several battles with Katuwas's successor Suhis VIII at Qattunan until he took it in 1269. Finally in 1268 he took the capital city of Carchemish. He proclaimed Carchemish his Province and appointed an Ippir at Carchemish. He had all of Suhis's sons, brothers and nephews taken prisoner and brought to Susa and had the King of Carchemish pay a hefty ransom for each, and it took many years for all of the captive Princes to be released. In 1267, when an imperial officer, Khabil-kinu Lali-Atta took some of the money given to him for this purpose at Carchemish for himself, Eparti had him lashed one thousand times and his body hung over the walls of Susa. The man was a member of the Lali-Atta Noble Family, and dissent was growing within Susa among the Nobles, however Eparti stopped them by taking Kabil-kinu Lali-Atta's brother and chief opponent Shurri-Shamash Lali-Atta captive. Eparti began to personally lash Shurri-Shamash Lali-Atta until he submitted and acknowledged Eparti's superiority, ending any direct opposition from the nobles. In 1266 he met with the Kings of Amat and offered them membership in the Empire. The King of Amat, Ahurafarnah IV, politely refused, but offered an alliance to combat and conquer Aryani. The Emperor agreed and so in 1265, an army consisting of Elamites, Medes from Amat as well as Rashian, Ellipian and Emarite soldiers advanced into the land of Aryani. It took until 1264 to conquer Chalus, and in 1263 Zanjan was besieged thrice. In 1261 Epartid King of Emar Zuzuguni I died defending Chalus. In the meantime the Emperor was negotiationg with the Kingdom of Namar to join the Empire and aid in defeating Aryani, which had been it's suzerain prior. In 1260 the alliance was joined by Araziaš, Gizilbunda, Ḫarruna, Gilzanu and Zikirtu. Zanjan then fell to the allied armies in 1259 and Namar agreed to become a member nation of the Empire, joining the coalition. Between 1258 and 1256 Eparti besieged the Aryani capital Ramsar seven times. In 1254 he managed to enter it and his forces caused great devastation. The Aryani King flead the capital, retaking Zanjar with his remaining force. This fell to Eparti again in 1253, the Aryani King finally submitting to his rule. In 1252 he released the last captive Carchemish Prince and in 1251 accepted Carchemish as a full member nation. He died at Susa in 1250 BC and was succeeded by his son Khutelutush-Inshushinak I.